Why are we dumping so many cats?

Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said: "Nowadays we don't think much of a man's love for an animal; we laugh at people who are attached to cats. But if we stop loving animals, aren't we bound to stop loving humans too?"

Perhaps we should be alarmed, then, by a 44% increase in the number of animals that had to be rescued by the RSPCA last year. More felines are rescued than any other pet: according to the animal charity, we dumped nearly 3,000 cats and 6,500 other pets.

No one knows exactly why we have suddenly become more cruel, but as well as the usual excuses related to a lack of money, the sudden onset of allergies, the stupid belief that a cat will always remain a kitten, and so on, there is a suspicion that fashion could be a factor.

"Sadly, there do now seem to be cycles in which one pet is more fashionable than another," says Andy Foxcroft, chief officer of the RSPCA Inspectorate. "It could be that 'handbag dogs' or pit bull-type animals are in fashion and that could leave no room for a cat in the home. We have even had cats handed in because they didn't match the new carpet."

There are other, more prosaic, factors, too. According to the charity Cats Protection, which takes in 60,000 cats a year, there are now about 9 million in the UK - 1.3 million more than 10 years ago - and sheer numbers are causing inevitable problems. "One un-neutered female can be responsible for more than 20,000 births over five years if its offspring aren't neutered," says Maggie Roberts, head of veterinary services.

"Often, people intend to get a kitten spayed but then leave it too late - we recommend four months - and the results are predictable: lots of kittens they can't cope with, lots of unwanted pets."